Bluepoint Games have produced what are arguably the most successful remasters: The God of War Collection, The Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collection, and The Metal Gear Solid HD Collection. Andy O'Neil, president of Bluepoint, says it best, "There are always shortcuts you can take. The trick is to not take them. Don't cheat."

Easier said than done. The biggest problem that all of these studios have faced is that no standard set of rules exists for re-mastering a game. Each one is profoundly different. "Every single game is a unique snowflake. There are certain things that are always going to come up, but you don't know," says O'Neil, "We run every game through a performance analyzer, which is a special type of PS2. We look at all the data that's going through the systems. We say, 'This is what's going through that chip, this is what's going through the vector unit (VU) assembler.' We can use that analysis and figure out what bit of the process is going to be hard, what bit's going to be a problem, and get a big picture view of hardware fundamentals."

What kind of problems can come up? All kinds. "The biggest challenge is refactoring a codebase designed to run on one console to allow it to run on another," says Sanzaru's Egan. "With a really old game, say from the PS1, you could probably just run everything through an emulator, but with the PS2 you have to step backwards and figure out a way to get things to run natively. Until you have a very thorough understanding of the code you may not understand how easy or hard it is to convert, and it can take some time to understand 10-year-old code written by a completely different set of people."

Having access to those original creators and creations can certainly help though. "Sucker Punch did an awesome job archiving their work so we were able to compile and review the original code [for Sly Cooper] quickly. From there we would just send emails and IM's when we had specific questions. The tricky part for them was probably finding all the archived source art. It's kind of like asking somebody to dig up an essay they wrote in high school ten years ago."

The suggestion is that the closer the collaboration with the original studio, the better the result in the HD re-master. Andy O'Neil illustrates that having a close relationship with Sony Santa Monica actually resulted in God of War Collection being superior in some ways to the original incarnations. "When it comes to collaborating, it all depends on who's going to be the best at getting what stuff done. Anything that changes the game -- say there's a legacy bug that needs to be changed -- we ask them. For example, the movies in God of War were captured off dev kits and then had post-effects applied to them. There was a lot of talk from people saying that they don't look that good, and there are some really good reasons for that. That recapture is very difficult, so what we did instead is we improved the bit rate, ran it through some spectromorphological filtering. Santa Monica had all the original frames so they said, yeah we can do all that and put it in the game."

The addition of that source material was a boon for God of War and Bluepoint but it caused huge problems for Huelett and his team at Konami in making Silent Hill. "We got all the source code that Konami had on file -- which it turns out wasn't the final release version of the games! D'oh!" says Huelett, "So during debug we didn't just have to deal with the expected 'porting' bugs, but also had to squash some bugs that the original team obviously removed prior to release, but we'd never seen before. A lot of assets such as textures and sound had to be taken out of the compiled game, and that brings with it a host of unique issues, especially taken on top of the tricky coding workarounds at play in the original games. We certainly had our hands full. I think at one point [Silent Hill 3 protagonist] Heather was blue."

The lesson then would seem to be that if better archiving were done in the past, we would have better re-masters today. "Ten years ago, a lot of game companies assumed the games were 'done' once development finished, and that they wouldn't need to use that data ever again. Now it's clear that having all that data in an easy-to-manage format is important. Many consumers don't realize you can't just buy a copy of SH2 and then open up its code in a usable state."

Comments (44)

Remake

There is no need to make HD remakes. If you want the original game, put the original game there. Something like Wii vutual console would be very helpful to HD sustems. Of do a full remake in the style of The Legend of Zelda Orcania of time 3D. That way you can fix flaws that porting and editing can't.

I'm sad

Because I used to have an OG 60gb PS3 that played all my PS2 games (without emulation!). Oh, and it upscaled them really nicely, too. Sadly, the 5 year old PS3 decided to stop working this past March (right in the middle of me watching the end cutscence of Mass Effect 2, no less) and I didn't want to pay Sony $200 (plus shipping!) to fix it.

I agree

A (probably unpopular) opinion from a PC gamer...

I'm not trying to start a pissing contest with the console folks, each to their own, but as a PC gamer I can scarcely believe that people are willing to buy the same game twice and still get an inferior product to the original PC version (if there is one - I know you've got your exclusives). I'm sitting here behind two 8 year old monitors (seriously, you can probably pick these up for about £40 these days) both running a crystal clear 75Hz at 2048x1536 - total pixel count of 3,145,728 per monitor. But you poor buggers are buying the same games for the second time and still only getting 1920x1080, or 2,073,600 pixels total. That's about 65% the clarity that PC folks got when we bought the game the first time round! Whenever I hear a game studio touting their amazing 1080p HD remakes, all I can think is "wow, that's a really high resolution - for the late 90s".

Another PC gamer

It's sooo expensive! HUH? I have no TV so I would pay for that. $300 to $2000. I have Hulu, Netflix and others I view on a $100 20 inch monitor. Console cost $500 for a PS3! For $500 you can get a decent PC. That's only ONE console. Games $60 or rent. Steam, GoG Gamesgate and tons of free stuff you can download for the PC. I got ten years of CnC for $20, at Best Buy.

GOTY Oblivion $20, Balders Gate, Icewind Dale both complete with all expansions plus Plansecape Torrent and The Temple of Elemental Evil $20. None of these need state of the art PC's. Console players pay for the priveledge of being up to date with their pals. PC's also have programs you CAN'T run on consoles. It's NOT more expensive. It just needs a bit more brain power!

Silent Hill HD

Not sure If I played the updated patched version or what but I didn't have any glaring issues with my playthrough of Silent Hill 2? (360 version)

Admittedly, the water did look pretty bad but I never played the original PS2 version so I can't comment on the comparison. Regardless, I didn't notice anything blatantly game-breaking or that obnoxious graphics-wise while playing SH2. Played a bit and felt the same about SH3.

Perhaps it is an instance of fans overreacting? Though I seem to be in the minority that had a decent time with Downpour so I digress.

Gotta Disagree With The Final Conclusions

The original release is ALWAYS the real version of any game. Even if a later version is better, it is still just an improved remake on the original game. No matter how different the game looks, the new version is never the real version. Isn't even up for debate.

Not so

It's always going to be up to debate for the simple fact that not everyone is exposed to a material pre or post release, hence why re-releases and the like happen. You cannot merely write off a different version as invalid or unsubstantial unless the quality really is that subpar, quality or content wise. Roadside Picnic got a re-release with it's original format restore and a new pre-word from the arthor and new translation, it may not be the original per se but it is what the original should have been at release.

Remastering is all Hype

I appreciate the hard work that goes into remastering these great games, but I just don't see it translated into the game. I was pumped to play Ico and Shadow on my PS3. I thought the graphics would be amazing and the game play smoother than ever. The graphics looked the same, even on my 1080p tv. Also, the gameplay was identical as the PS2 version. The characters only pivot 8 postions, or so.

LOL

I loved this ""There are always shortcuts you can take. The trick is to not take them. Don't cheat." Because obviously trying and failing to get a constant 60FPS resulting in an inconsistent experience is totally not cheating. Or maybe it isn't. Maybe to them, locking the framerate to what it was originally designed to run at and getting a consistent experience with 0 microstuttering is cheating.(MGS 2cutscenes&All of MGS3, PW ran at 20FPS originally with not many in game cutscenes. So not an issue. Plus it wasn't ported by Bluepoint) Apples to oranges.

It's about a clear cut improvement to the original game to modern standards. (Whether it's graphically or gameplay wise;like with MGS3DS which has actual graphical improvements AND gameplay improvements;) And most of the time it just ends up looking lazy. Like a cheap cash-in on the fact that they took away Backwards Compatibility from us.(And now it looks like they've built fully functional software emulation with "PS2 classics")Especially when they completely break the feeling of the game with something like MGSHDC by trying to run at 60FPS and horribly failing causing tons of microstuttering. Which then also breaks mouth flaps, and the cinematic feeling. Capping at 30FPS for MGS3 would've resulted in a completely smooth experience with almost 0 issues. Capping at 60FPS gameplay and 30FPS cutscenes would've resulted the same for MGS2. (Which is how it was designed. Both respectively) (Don't even get started on how they removed content so they could release on both the PS3 and 360. Which is a low blow if you ask me. Even if it's just Snake Vs Monkey and Secret Theater and other stuff!)

I think the real issue, is "Improving while retaining feeling" And feeling can be a number of things.Framerate, art design,texture design,model design etc.

And IMHO they really need to put actual effort into improving these games graphically(ESPECIALLY YOU CAPCOM). When they don't they still look as dated as they actually are.

LOL

I loved this ""There are always shortcuts you can take. The trick is to not take them. Don't cheat." Because obviously trying and failing to get a constant 60FPS resulting in an inconsistent experience is totally not cheating. Or maybe it isn't. Maybe to them, locking the framerate to what it was originally designed to run at and getting a consistent experience with 0 microstuttering is cheating. Apples to oranges.

It's about a clear cut improvement to the original game to modern standards. (Whether it's graphically or gameplay wise;like with MGS3DS which has actual graphical improvements AND gameplay improvements;) And most of the time it just ends up looking lazy.Especially when they completely break the feeling of the game with something like MGSHDC by trying to run at 60FPS and horribly failing causing tons of microstuttering. Which then also breaks mouth flaps, and the cinematic feeling. Capping at 30FPS for MGS3 would've resulted in a completely smooth experience with almost 0 issues. Capping at 60FPS gameplay and 30FPS cutscenes would've resulted the same for MGS2. (Which is how it was designed) (Don't even get started on how they removed content so they could release on both the PS3 and 360. Which is a low blow if you ask me)

I think the real issue, is "Improving while retaining feeling" And feeling can be a number of things.Framerate, art design,texture design,model design etc.

Comparisons show the exact opposite

The pictures you posted are not really suitable here. The wrong aspect ration stretches the textures, so that the emulated and HD versions are not comparable anymore. But still you can actually see the improvements in all four pictures:

(sings) IIIIIII like technology...

God of War 1 & 2, the Sly Cooper Trilogy were all programmed in 720p. We just diddn't get to see the original masters until they were ported to PS3 since the PS2 could only do 420p. A game like Final Fantasy XII would probably benefit from this kind of port since it came late in the PS2's life cycle. But a game like the original Devil May Cry is more of a challenge, it was made on older technology.

If I could

Well

I think developers 10yrs ago had the right idea. Using the high school paper analogy again, I would never expect to take a paper I wrote in high school, change a few sentences and hand it in for my senior thesis in college. Once its done, its kind of irrelevant, its an odd thought to think that you would preserve that for anything more than a personal trophy. But now that the upscales have become big business, I'm sure many are keeping data finally preserved.

This isn't a school paper...

We're talking about entertainmnet here, and people are always going to want to go back and re-live those experiences. It's the same concept as re-mastering a classic film; it maintains what made the original work so great while making it more viewer-friendly to the modern audience. Frankly, it would make far less sense to simply let these games fade into obscurity over the years. After all, if I can have Metropolis on blu-ray, there's no reason why I can't also have Metal Gear Solid 3 in HD.

fantastic article

really enjoyed this. more power to preservation, and to those that preserve.

on a side note... it's really sad how little companies valued the work of their own artists and employees, in retrospect. it's been a recurring theme since server hosted games were being wiped out at colleges in the dawn of the 80's.

i hope the MGS HD collection on Vita does well, in sales and in quality, and that it ensures more for my end of the gaming world. would be nice to get a fully patched Silent Hill pack in a year or so (that requires almost no future DL's), the way MK Vita and SF x Tekken are handling themselves.

The original is the "real" version

That's my general philosophy when it comes to anything like this. That said, I have played and enjoyed many "remasters" over the years; it's a perfectly acceptable substitute for the average consumer who may have missed the boat the first time around. But for future video game historians, only the original should really count, so preserving the actual hardware and cartridges, etc, is just as important as preserving the source code. At the very least controller designs need to be preserved even if the main hardware is just being emulated.

Want to agree...

I want to agree, but even for one game, there are different regions. Players of FINAL FANTASY VI in Japan did not have the same experience as Final Fantasy III players in the States, even beyond the translation. The comparisons with the preceeding titles, the environment of the industry, and even just the hardware itself (SFC had a more colorful controller) could affect the experiences of that generation. Same for re-releases. Heck, just thinking about silently different versions of the same game: The four or so patches of Metroid Prime (where sequence breaking and various lore was altered), or SSB Melee (which lost a strange occurence with the Daisy trophy), or FFIV ADVANCE between NA and EU (so much was fixed; Japan had both, but there was no distinguishment I know of).

It all contributes to the legacy of a title. The original must be preserved, yes, but so must every later version, as each has affected players through the years.

Wait,

yep

And what

And what exactly is the problem of preserving something that several people out there love and are fans of? How is 2 years of coding and researching the game and everything a quick buck? If that buck is quick, you better get on that gig then...seems like you think anyone can do it.

Emulation....

Just isn't the same dude, nothing like holding that cartridge in your hand or seeing it tucked in and nestled next to all the other catridges in your collection. I wish you luck in swapping that battery Luminaire

probably

What I got from the article is that if you're updating PS2 games, you can't just do a simple emulation of the game. With older games (PSX, and probably NES / SNES / N64) you may be able to get a faithful copy from an emulation.

Concerning future 360/PS3 game remasters...

You raise an interesting, but rather irrelevant point SamuraiTerry. Will we see remasters of current gen games, perhaps. Will it be possible to emulate them on future systems? Well, I think that question has already been answered by the severe lack of such support on both the PS3 and the 360 at this point. Both M$ and Sony have ackowledged emulation as a broken system that has to be solved on a game-by-game basis. Creating one piece of software that emulates the large majority of previous titles is impossible. Re-tooling the code to enable it to run on future systems, however, is still possible (but expensive).